Abstract Submitted to the    NANOTUBE'04 Conference:

Recently, the investigations on novel properties of carbon-nanotube/bio-molecule composite materials have rapidly progressed [1]. Especially, DNA is one of the most interesting materials because of their unique properties such as 1D nano structure and highly selective binding among many bio-molecules. In this study, we have demonstrated the formation of carbon-nanotube/DNA composite materials using novel plasma technique, i.e., arc discharge in DNA solution. When the formation of carbon nanotube is performed in the DNA solution, Raman spectrum of the carbon nanotubes has a broad peak in the region of the 500-1200 cm^-1, which is expected to originate from carbon-nanotube/DNA composite materials. Furthermore, based on the emission measurement during the discharge, the C₂ radical is considered to play an important role in the carbon nanotube formation process in DNA solution.

[1] M. Zheng et al., Science 302 (2003) 1545.